


The Controller

by Randomhumanbeing



Category: Animorphs
Genre: Controller POV, Frequent updates, Gen, In dire need of a beta, My First Work in This Fandom, Yeerks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 05:37:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14537802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Randomhumanbeing/pseuds/Randomhumanbeing
Summary: Maddy isn't the biggest fan of her life. Her mom left, her dad's scatterbrained and her brother is absolutely perfect. After yet another trip to the vice principals office, she's told she has two choices. Either join The Sharing on their trip to pick up trash on the beach, or get expelled. It's there that she makes friends, though she quickly finds not everything is what it seems.





	1. Chapter 1

My name is Maddy, just Maddy. I can't tell you my last name, if I do they'll make things worse. They'll take my father, I don't even know why I'm risking this. Maybe somewhere deep down inside I still have hope that we can win. You probably won't believe this, even somehow you find this before she deletes it all. Who is she? Well sit down kiddos, because boy do I have some news for you. Aliens are real, in fact you might know one… You probably know one. Yeerks are parasitic creatures, they squeeze and slide their way into their host's ear. It doesn't hurt, for a few seconds you just become sort of numb and you have a headache.  
  
Then it's all over. Your eyes move, but you don't control them. You try to open your mouth and scream, but no sound comes out. You can feel someone reading your mind as easily as you would read words on a page. You can hear its voice, mocking you. It acts like you, talks like you, and for all intents and purposes it is, you're a Controller.  
  
Just like me.  
  
I remember how it all started, I was called to the Vice Principal’s office for the third time this week.  
  
Vice Principal Chapman looked up from his papers and sighed, "Vandalizing classrooms again?"  
  
I chewed my gum, and moved a piece of my long black hair out of my face. I like to think I look kinda badass with my leather jacket, jeans, and single silver earring. "Nah, just ditched Physics." I hated Physics with a burning passion, I was always more of a biology type of person. And while I was able to get straight Cs in my other classes, passing physics was a long shot.  
  
He sighed, "You can't keep this up you know," he shook his head, "You were such a good kid, what happened?"  
  
I could have told him my mom had disappeared on us a while back with her new boyfriend. That my brother, Peter, had moved out, he'd become some sort of large scale politician, and I was just another nobody kid in a nobody school. I could have told him about how he was the golden child and I was 'just there' to my dad and my mother might as well have not existed with how often she bothered calling. Instead, I just gave a nonchalant shrug, “Things change I guess.People change.”  
He handed me a flyer, "This is your last chance Madeline." I looked at the paper, it was for some lame scouts type thing called The Sharing apparently they were doing some sort of beach cleanup, "If you don't go to the meeting I'll have no choice but to expel you."  
  
I looked from the paper to him, than sighed resentfully, "See you there I guess."  
  
He nodded, "Now get to class."  
  
I gazed out the window of my Physics class, bored out of my skull. The teacher was talking about the Spring Force equation, but I really couldn't care less about it. I saw a red tailed hawk fly by the window and gave a small smile. I always liked birds, hawks especially, with their sharp, hook shaped beaks. The way their wings would spread out, graceful and free. Their intense eyes. They were the rulers of the sky and they knew it.  
  
"Maddy!" I heard the teacher shout, which broke my attention. I gave a small yelp to the joint snickers of the classroom. "Do you know the answer?" I looked at the equation, who decided to put letters in math anyway? I shook my head. "Maybe you should pay more attention then." The teacher said. On a normal day I would have rolled my eyes or said something sarcastic, but I was on the edge now, so I put my head on my desk and muttered. "Yes Ma'am."  
  
I wished I was anyone else at that moment, anywhere else at that moment. Of course, you don’t know what you’ve got until you’re gone.  
  
The day went by quickly, or at least it felt that way to me. I walked home alone, no real friends and we lived too close for the bus to drive me to and from. I walked up to my house.  
  
My house was fairly standard, white with brown trimmings, two floors, a lawn with grass a bit too long because my dad hadn't trimmed it yet. The remains of a swing stood in the front yard, a wooden board half-attached to the branch of a tree. I walked inside.  
  
"Hi dad." I yelled as I walked in, he looked up from his book  
  
"Oh hi Matil-"  
  
"Maddy." I said simply, calling him a little scatterbrained would be an understatement, than again he never seemed to forget Peter's name.  
He nodded sheepishly, "Right right, so how was school?"  
  
"It was school."  
  
"Ah, you know Peter loved school, he said if he wasn't so passionate about freeing the oppressed, he would be a school teacher."  
I nodded, "Yeah, he's like that. A perfect guy."  
  
"So, when do you graduate?"  
  
I shrugged, "Whenever I guess."  
  
"You know I remember you told me you wanted to be a doctor at some point, what happened to that?"  
  
"I was eight when I said that," Peter was still here, he'd been 16, straight A student, back than I'd hoped I could compete with him, Now I was 13 and he was 21. He’d moved out and became famous and successful. And I… I was just me.  
  
"Alright, I'm going to mow the lawn." He said, standing up, that was his code-word for, 'I'm done trying to talk with you and I feel like getting a beer.' He'd been using it a lot more often since mom left. I sighed and went upstairs to my room. In between NIN posters were all of my drawings of death and destruction. If my dad came up here, he’d probably be worried. Luckily he never did. Than again, Peter never seemed to be worried. He just teased me for being Emo. (something I despised at the time, but on reflection was pretty accurate.)  
I looked at the flyer for The Sharing I'd been given. I debated not going at all and just living with the expulsion, it's not like my dad would notice or care, I’d just spend the time I was supposed to be in school by the convenience store until the time came to graduate.Of course, I’d probably get arrested for loitering or something and than the cops would get involved and... I sighed and slumped on my bed, it wasn't like I had anything better to do this Saturday.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, if you read this on Fanfiction.net before you read it here you might notice that this chapter is a lot shorter than the one there. That's because I'm adding a chapter between two and three and for the sake of pacing, I needed to shorten this chapter.  
> That being said, enjoy!

I walked along the beach, the sand went in between toes above my flip-flops. Nearby there was a barbecue set up and several park benches. A blonde women with bright blue sat at the introduction table, her name tag said Penny. "Hi there." She said, "Are you new to The Sharing?" I gave a small nod, "Well excellent! It's nice to meet you. Just sign put your name on the name tag, grab a stick and you can get going," She paused before handing me the name tag, "I swear your face looks so familiar, but I just can't place you."  
  
"My brother-"  
  
She snapped her fingers, "Oh right, that makes sense, though I guess you probably don't want to talk about him." She handed the name tag to me, I nodded.  
  
"Well thanks." I said.  
  
"No problem, I hope you enjoy yourself!" I nodded and started to walk away when she grabbed my hand, "Don't think of this as a punishment." She said quietly, I guess Chapman told her about everything. "The Sharing is really fun and a nice group when you get used to it, trust me."  
  
I gave a small smile, but I was skeptical, "I'll try." She gave me a thumbs up and finally let me walk away. I didn't find her suspicious at the time, I mean a lot of girl-scouts boy-scouts clubs have really obsessive members. Especially parents, I looked back at her, yeah she looked old enough to be a parent. I joined the people on the beach, a few small children were running around, laughing and screaming, I saw a few building sandcastles, some people were just chilling, reading books or getting a tan.  
  
I sighed and looked around for trash, I stabbed a cup with the trash-stick thing. I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder and quickly turned around, pointing the sharp stick at the hand. It was just Chapman, who looked at me wearily, "Calm down, it's just me." He smiled, "I'm glad you're here, I was worried I would have to expel you."  
  
I nodded, "Yeah, I thought might as well." I shrugged nonchalantly.  
  
"Well, I'll let you get to it than. Try to enjoy yourself okay?" He said. I nodded and walked away. At this point, I was going to try my hardest not to have fun just to spite everyone. I put a Burger King wrapper inside the black trash bag I'd been given. I continued this way for a while, until I bumped into a guy. He was kind of cute, black hair with matching black eyes, he was Asian. He gave me a charming smile, "Sorry about that, My fault."  
  
Well, I wasn't going to correct him, "No problem, I'm Maddy."  
  
He nodded, "I've heard about you." I took a deep breath, hoping that he wouldn't mention my brother, "We go to the same school." I gave an inaudible sigh of relief.  
"Oh yeah, right. I think I saw you in English?" I said, I didn't really remember him all that well.  
  
He nodded and chuckled, "I still can't believe you drew that caricature of Mrs. Thomson."  
  
I grinned, "Well she does have a big nose." In hindsight, I was kind of a jerk to my teachers.  
  
He shook his head, "Pretty well drawn too. Hey want any help cleaning up, it'll be a lot more fun with a partner and such. I'm Akeno by the way."  
  
I smiled, "Sure why not. Won't kill me to interact with someone who's not my vice principal or that lady up there."  
  
He picked up a gum wrapper and shook his head, "You mean Penny? Yeah she can be a bit…"  
  
"Overbearing?"  
  
"Insanely so, I swear she scares off more people then she brings in."  
  
I laughed, "I bet, you know you should be the spokesperson."  
  
He shook his head, "Me, nah I'm just a kid. They parents would freak!"  
  
I gave a mischievous smile, "That's why it'd be great."  
  
We continued this way for a while, picking up trash side by side, joking and laughing. Even though this had started out as a punishment, I had to admit I was having fun. A few hours passed when he said, "Hey wanna grab some grub?"  
  
I beamed, "Anything to get me out of this mess." We began to walk towards the park benches.  
  
He raised an eyebrow, "Not here by choice than?"  
  
I snorted, "You're kidding right?"  
  
He shrugged, "It's not like there's nothing to like." He took a bite out of a rib, "I mean, The Sharing can be pretty fun at times you know?"  
  
I picked up the trash bag, "Yeah, seems like a blast."  
  
He laughed, "Yeah, there's a lot of work involved. But once you become a full member," he gave a long whistle, "Boy it's out of this world."  
  
I took a forkful of corn, "What's so great about it?"  
  
He looked at me, with a jokey smile, "You'll have to find out for yourself."  
  
I rolled my eyes, "Ohhh, how mysterious." We continued to eat and talk for awhile, really hitting it off.  
  
"Okay okay, if you really don't believe me, come to the next meeting." He said with a laugh.  
  
"Hey why not, I mean as long as you'll be there."  
  
He nodded, "Of course." He stood up, "See you there than?"  
  
I checked my watch, I hadn't noticed how much time had passed, it was getting pretty late the sun was beginning to set behind me. Yeah, I'd spent enough time here, Chapman had seen me. I nodded, "See you there."


	3. Chapter 3

I decided to be chill for the next few days. I needed to if I didn't want to get expelled, and for now I sort of had a goal. Just make it until the weekend. Akeno and I hung out during class sometimes, while I would usually just sit there until the teacher assigned me to a person, now he would be there and offer to join me in writing a short story. It was no Pulitzer winner, a sort of basic thing about a guy who went on an adventure and defeated the dragon that had been terrorizing his town, but it did get an A. We hung out often after school, he even walked me home a few times. Dad knew about him, but didn't seem to care much. At lunch the Thursday after we met, he introduced me to a few of his friends, a cheerful looking brunette named Alice and a blonde, brown eyed kid named Patrick.  
  
"Oh so you're the kid old Akeno's been hanging out with all this time." Alice held out her hands, "It's nice to meet you, this guy," she pointed at Akeno, "Has been blowing us off the last few weeks to hang with you."  
  
Akeno rolled his eyes and scoffed, "I was just at your house a few days ago Al, besides you know it's mostly Sharing stuff. God your clingy."  
  
"Am not!"  
  
"Please stop fighting guys." Patrick said quietly.  
  
"Anyway, if Akeno would stop being a jerk for a few seconds, I was going to ask if you wanted to go to the diner after school." Alice said eagerly.  
  
"Yeah sure whatever." I said.  
  
I went to Algebra 1, than art and finally Physics, which went okay, great and horrible in that order. I swore that teacher was out to get me.Finally, Patrick, Akeno, Alice and I went to the movies. We let Alice choose, since this was all her idea… Something we quickly found was a mistake because she had shit taste in movies. It was some boring Rom-Com, I don’t even remember what it was about. Not to say we didn’t have fun though, Akeno and I spent the entire time whispering movie roasts to each other. Patrick ended up crying, so I guess something must have happened.  
  
“That was beautiful.” He whispered quietly.  
  
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie that great.” She said, rubbing his back.  
  
She glared at us, “Though it would have been a better experience if someone hadn’t been talking.”  
  
“Sorry about that, it just wasn’t my type of thing.” I said with a small smile, “Hey, milkshakes my treat to make up for it?”  
  
Akeno snuggled his head on my neck, “Awww, aren’t you sweet.” He teased.  
  
I pushed him off, “Shut up, or you get nothing.”  
  
“Don’t be like that.” He said with a half-laugh.  
  
“So, we are going?” Patrick said, confused.  
  
Alice rolled her eyes, “Yes Patrick, God your slow sometimes.”The three of us started to walk to the nearest Coldstone. Alice ordered a strawberry milkshake, Patrick ordered a small chocolate ice cream in a cup instead of a cone, Akeno ordered a large cookie dough with a cone and I ordered a banana split. We all sat together inside, though we had to use a booth due to the size of our group. It was odd, being a member of a friend group. They made a few in-jokes that I didn’t get, but I liked them. Peter’s soft, kind heart, Alice’s endless enthusiasm and Akeno’s… Everything. Eventually it started to get late, we all said our goodbyes and started to walk home. I looked at the stars as I walked. I think that was the happiest I’d been since my mom left.  
  
I walked inside the house, a small smile on my face, “Home!” I shouted as I walked through the door. I sat on the couch next to my dad.  
  
He looked at me and feigned shock, “Wow, what’s this? My daughter, Maddy actually smiling?”  
  
I shrugged, “Just in a smiley mood I guess.” He didn’t ask anymore questions. He was watching football on ESPN. I never really had an interest in sports, but I watched it anyway. I spent the time just thinking, about my friends, my grades, The Sharing. Finally life was going like I wanted it to, like all the sitcoms said it should go. I think it was about 15 minutes after I showed up that the game ended and the news came on.  
  
A brown haired women came on the screen, “We’re here now with Peter XXXXX, leader of the recent Action Today march.” She turned to him, “Tell me, what’s the goal of your program?” I stared at him, at his perfectly combed brown hair and his perfectly tailored suit, probably ironed the morning before.  
  
“This is a call to action to the people in the white house. We will not stand for the continued destruction of the environment, the continued lack of effort being made to regulate corporations, the choice the government has made to ignore the will of the majority for the will of the one perce-”  
  
I muted the TV, my dad glanced at me, “What’s wro-”  
  
“Just tired,” I said quietly, “Going to my room, night.” Without waiting for an answer, I went up to my room, but I didn’t sleep. I stared at the wall. How stupid of me, to assume that I’d actually accomplished something today, to think that I would ever catch up to perfect Peter. I was still a nothing, and always would be. I sighed, might as well get used to it. I knew i had a ton of homework to do, but I didn’t care. I didn’t feel like doing it. I fell into an uneasy sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

There were only two things that stopped me from on purposely getting expelled that month. My friends and The Sharing. The Sharing kept me active, it made me feel like I was effecting things. Like I was someone. So I went to the next meeting.  
  
And the next.  
  
And the next.  
  
One meeting was at a fundraiser and we were selling cookies that would go to a homeless shelter.  
  
I put some money in the bucket and stole one of the cookies,"I'm so glad you convinced me to come."  
  
He nodded, "I'm glad that you came." He scratched the back of his head, "You know, I was sort of worried that you wouldn't show up."  
  
I put my arm around his shoulder, "I never break my promise."  
He cocked his head, "Really."  
  
I nodded, "Yep, it's one of the only rules I follow." I cocked my head, "Why would you care anyway?"I handed a cookie to a customer and told them to have a nice day.  
  
He blushed softly and played with his fingers, "I sort of… Like you."  
  
I giggled, "What so you believe in that love at first sight stuff?" I rolled my eyes, "That's so cheesy."  
  
He smiled, "That's why you like me back isn't it?"  
  
I paused, and said, "Maaaaybe."  
  
He pecked me on the cheek, "Well that's that then isn't it."  
  
"That's that I guess."  
  
I continued to go to meetings and not much changed. We were dating sure, but there wasn't much difference between that and being friends. Well other than us kissing every once in a blue moon.  
  
Well that is, until the moment that everything changed.  
  
The two of us were at a carnival thing when he offered to ditch the place and go on a midnight walk on the beach where we first met. I still held cotton candy in one hand and he held popcorn in another. I put my head on his shoulder as we walked.  
  
"Hey Maddy?"  
  
I looked up at him, "Hm?"  
  
"Can I ask you something crazy?"  
  
"'Sup?" I stole a piece of his popcorn.  
  
"Do you ever feel… Hopeless, like your work isn't really worth all that much?"  
  
I chuckled, "What kind of quest-"  
  
"Please just answer." He said quietly.  
  
I looked at him perplexed, "Okay, I sort of do. It's a lot better than it used to be..." I shuffled awkwardly, "I still feel that way sometimes though, when I see my brother on the news. It always seems like he has everything all figured out."  
  
"But you don't," He nodded sympathetically. "I get it. Hey remember how I told you about the full membership?"  
  
I nodded, "You were weird about it but yeah, I remember,"  
  
"Becoming a member can make all of your problems go away, it makes everything so much clearer and easier. You always have someone to talk to and that person will always help you no matter what."  
  
I smiled and closed my eyes, "Sounds amazing." My eyes narrowed, "but what's the catch."  
  
He shrugged, "Just basic responsibilities and stuff, you lose a bit of your freedom, you have to take one for the team a lot of the time but no biggie." He smiled, "But it's worth it for everything you can get in return, you get support, you get a goal, you become someone special and important." He closed his eyes, "The world is going to change whether we like it or not. Why not be on the winning team."  
  
I frowned, "Wait, we are still talking about a girl-scouts, boy-scouts group right?"  
  
"The Sharing was always about more than that, we want to shape the world Maddy and we need your help."  
  
I backed up, this was when I first started to realize something was very very wrong. I laughed nervously, "This isn't some sort of cult right?"  
  
He blinked, confused, than laughed, "Not even close. Don't worry so much, if you don't really enjoy being a full member for less than a month, you can just leave."  
  
"Really?"  
  
He nodded, "Really, heck we'll even be willing to negotiate with you, work with you to make sure you're comfortable and fine with everything that's going on."  
  
I smiled, "Alright then, show me the way. Let's do this!"


	5. Chapter 5

“Now?” He said with a cock of his head, “This is a professional organization you know, we kind of have to do this officially.”  
  
I sighed dejectedly, Akeno smiled and pulled my chin up, “I mean I have connections,” he winked, “I could convince them to let you in by tomorrow morning.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Of course, anything for you.”  
  
I hugged Akeno, he shuffled awkwardly, “It’s no problem really.” His face twitched for a second, but he quickly went back to normal and I thought perhaps it was just a trick of the light. After all, it was pretty dark out.  
  
“I’ve gotta go.” He said quickly, “See you tomorrow than, if nothing goes wrong, it’ll be around 10-ish.”  
  
I nodded and kissed him on the cheek, “See you there than.” I walked back home. I opened the door of my house and shouted, “I’m home.” I frowned, there was no answer. I walked from the living room to the kitchen and noticed a note on the fridge.  
  
Went out to the store. Be back soon hopefully. Pizza in the fridge if you’re hungry.  
  
-Dad  
  
I sighed and took out a piece of sausage pizza from the fridge. I took it to my room finished it before falling into a deep sleep.  
  
“Wow Maddy, you were really a part of this?” Alice said with a giant grin.  
  
“You’re so cool!”  
  
My brother putting his arm around my shoulder, “Good job Mads, you know I always knew you’d be someone great.” He chuckled, “I guess I’m going to have to catch up with you now huh?”  
  
A pair of young, blonde twins ran up to me, “Maddy, you’re so awesome can we have your autograph?”  
  
I imagined my mother showing up, her black hair that matched my own swept behind her ear, her blue eyes sparkling, “I’m so proud of you, I’m sorry for leaving, but trust me,” She wrapped her arms around me and brought me into a hug, “It’ll never happen again.”  
  
My father threw his can of beer aside and joined the rest of us in a group hug. We were finally a family again, everything was perfect. My eyes snapped open at the sound of my alarm clock. The bright red numbers were blinking and showed the numbers 9:30. I groaned and turned it off, than grinned. Sunday, the day when I would become someone. I put on a hoodie and jeans and quickly wrote a note for my father.  
  
Hey Dad, I’ll probably be gone for most of the day, don’t wait up.  
  
-Maddy  
  
I ran to The Sharing headquarters where they held their meetings. Akeno met me at the door. He smiled, “Are you ready?”  
  
I grinned, “Hell yeah, I mean, you kind of hyped all of this. What with the whole mystery thing.”  
  
He smiled, “Yeah, but it wasn’t inaccurate. Well come on.”  
  
He led me into the building, he put his hand on a scanner that opened the door, the area was dark but for a red light above the area.The door immediately closed behind us.There was a long line of metal stairs leading to a door. I stepped on them one by one, the sound echoed throughout the small room.I laughed nervously, “A bit dramatic isn’t it? The long stairway, the glowing light...” I guess my face revealed my nerves because Akeno gripped my hand tighter. The hand that wasn’t holding mine was balled in an angry fist, I stopped and looked at him, “What’s wrong.”  
  
“Huh,” He said than noticing his fist blushed slightly, “Oh nothing, just a bit of a headache, didn’t get much sleep last night.” He explained, and it sounded reasonable enough to me. We kept walking. He looked at me and said, “Hey Maddy, promise no matter what you see in there you’re not going to freak out.”  
“I’m not some sort of kid Akeno, whatever they have in there, I can handle.” I snorted, even though every nerve in my body was on edge. We walked into a fairly large room. It was barren but for a large pool and steel chair in the corner of the room and two stoic people in the front of the room who held guns. Before I could question why there were these two people were here or what was with the big pool, he steered me towards the chair.  
  
“Why do you want to become a full member of The Sharing?” He said,  
  
I cocked my head, “You know why?”  
  
He gave a small smile, “Humor me, honestly most of this is just formalities, but you know.”  
  
I nodded, “Alright then, it’s because… I want to be special, I want the world to know who I am, I want to help things change and I can’t do that now.”  
  
“And you’re sure this is what you want?”  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“Than put your right hand here.” He said, and that’s when I noticed the shackles. I was a bit slow at the time but that’s when I noticed that maybe something about this wasn’t right. Maybe I was just a stupid teenager who was doing stupid things for stupid reasons, than I felt Akeno squeeze my hand.  
  
“Come on Maddy, you said you wanted this right?”  
  
I shook my head, “Right, sorry… I guess I sort of just spaced out there for a second.” I put my hands in the shackles and watched as he tightened them to make sure the stayed on.He gently put a harness around my head and neck as he lowered my head down near the water.  
  
That’s when I saw them.  
  
My first thought was of course, what the heck? The creatures were grey and slug-like with no eyes. I felt my ear tingle for a second, and I became numb. You know that feeling, when water accidently goes into your ear? Imagine that, but you can’t move, you can’t get it out of your ear and it slowly moved deeper and deeper into your head.  
  
Than it’s all over.  
  
I felt a second presence in my head, small moments of my life passed before my eyes as the yeerk looked through my memories. I tried to connect to the prescience's own memories, but only hit a wall. I felt myself freeze.I tried to move, something basic, my eyes widening. But no. I began to panic (WHY ARE YOU IN MY HEAD. Get out, GET OUT, GET OUT!)  
  
The voice was half-laughing as it said (Hello Maddy, I see your confused. My name is Litniss 284. I'm the one who's going to make you special. We're going to change the world.) I was given basic information about the Yeerks and how they would take over the world. My stomach twisted as I realized what i had done. I’d betrayed my very species for the sake of feeling special.  
  
“You’re there?” Akeno asked, but I knew he wasn’t talking to me, he was talking to Litniss.  
  
I saw my head nod, “Yes Cordid 998,” my mouth smirked, “I thought it would be harder honestly.” She shook my head, “What a shame.” I felt my heart break as I realized how easily I’d been tricked. How simply he’d played with my emotions. How could I have been so stupid? I trusted him so quickly…  
  
(Don't feel too bad,) Litniss thought at me. (Plenty of creatures are tricked this way)I couldn’t tell whether she was being sarcastic or not, her emotions were blocked off for me.  
  
He nodded, “Easy to control at the beginning, when they’re confused and panicking.” He frowned, “They can get quite… emotional at times though...  
  
My mouth frowned, “I can handle an emotional host Cordid 998.”  
  
He nodded, “I know.” The two, or four I suppose, of us walked back inside and out the door of the building. He gave a cheery wave goodbye, I wanted to punch him, but I saw my arm calmly wave back and watched as my body started walking home. I thought everything was over, I made a stupid choice that was about to lead to the destruction of the world and there was nothing I could do to fix it. I was powerless.  
  
Of course, that was only the beginning.


	6. Chapter 6

She led my body into my room (So, let’s talk.) Itniss said.

(What about?) I asked.

(Ground rules. You were relatively Voluntary, honestly I think Cordid was a bit too cryptic all things considered. But you’re not currently telling me to die or trying to fight so we’ll go with Voluntary. We usually give minor favors to Voluntary Hosts, try to keep them comfortable and easy to deal with.)

(I don’t care, do what you want.) 

She frowned, (Are you sure? So you wouldn’t mind if this happened?)

A sort of live-action video flashed in my head. It was like I was watching a really good quality movie about myself. I was in Peter's small apartment, I drank tea and sat next to him on his couch. He smiled at me, “I’m glad to hear you’re doing so well.” His face was soft as he looked at me, “Honestly, I was a bit worried after mom…” He flinched, “I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to move out, leave you and Dad alone and than you stopped talking to me.” He gave a half-laugh, “Honestly, I thought you were mad.” 

“I was, for a while, but I’m cool now.” I looked at him, eyes bright, “You know I’ve heard you’ve been trying to expand your platform. You should really join The Sha-” 

“NO!” I shouted, back in the real world. My body was covered in sweat, I was shaking, my hands were balled into fists. 

(So I take it you wouldn’t like that?) Litniss said her tone dark yet humorous. I felt my anger slowly start to lower as I reminded myself that it wasn’t actually happening. (So,ready to chat than? My orders did involve taking your brother due to his importance and popularity among humans.)

(I hate you.) I glowered. 

I felt a hint of something… I think she was genuinely hurt by that, but she quickly emotionally blocked me again, (It doesn’t matter, we’re stuck with each other. Now we can either make things easy or hard. You could be in a far worse situation mind you.) Her voice darkened, (Some Yeerks deeply enjoy breaking their hosts. I would rather have you as an ally. For us to have a proper allied relationship we need to have listed boundaries.)

(Alright, fine.) I said angrily (Leave my friends alone, leave my family alone and best of all leave me alone.)

(That’s not exactly possible.) She said quietly (Maddy, I don’t think you realize the situation we’re in. This is a war and I, you, we're low ranking. We're expendable and we don't 'just' have the Andalite bandits to worry about)

Another video came into my head. A creature with bright blue fur, it was sort of like a deer, but it had two short skinny arms on it’s torso, two stalk eyes on top of its head, no mouth and most importantly, a sharp, scorpion-like tail. I immediately knew it was an Andalite, specifically Visser Three. Said tail was pointed directly at my neck. I held my breath, knowing that if I made a single mistake that tail would move quick as a bullet and my head would roll off my body. (You had orders.) Visser Three said to Litniss in thought speak, I saw my body physically flinch. His very presence filled me with dread. 

“I’m sorry sir,” She said using my voice, “My Host told me-”

(And you listened to her?) He said. 

"Yes sir I-"

Before I could think, there was a flash, the next second my head rolled off of my body. For a few seconds I was still alive, I saw my body crumple to the ground, headless, my neck spurting blood. Than the world went black. 

I flinched (Okay, I get it. You’re ordered to get one of my family members, you better do it or else we’re both screwed right?)

(Yeah.) Litniss sighed, she used my body to lie down on my bed.

I felt more anger boil up in me (You guys out number Visser three two to one don’t you? Why don’t you figh-)

(Shut up.) She hissed, but her fear was so strong it seeped through the emotional wall she had set up. (Just shut up. All you need to know is that our choices are following rules or death.) 

(But what about…) I thought, I focused on a specific memory of Peter.

I was so angry I’d split my pencil in half I threw the halves in the trash.

“Remember, no dessert until you’ve finished your homework.” I heard my mother say. 

“Math is stupid.” I muttered. 

My mother sighed, “I just can’t deal with her right now. Harold!”

“Hmm?” My father said, looking up from his work. She made a sound of disgust, Peter put a hand on her shoulder, “Don’t worry Mom, I’ve got her.” 

She snorted, “Good luck, I swear she’s impossible.” 

He pulled up a chair and sat next to me, “Hmm, 11-7 ay?” I nodded, and looked up at him.

“I don’t have enough fingers to count down this time and I don’t know what to do?” 

He frowned,”You don’t have enough fingers huh? Alright, let’s do this another way than.” I watched as he drew 11 circles on the paper, I counted them out. He erased them one by one and told me to count them how many he erased. 

“So, 11-7 equals four?” I said and looked up with him for confirmation.

He smiled, “Yes in deedily.” His brown hair was perfectly flat, not a single hair out of place, he wore a black dress pants and a white shirt. I’m honestly not sure if he could dress himself like a normal person, than again, I’m not exactly the one to talk. His eyes were gleaming with a mixture of pride and joy. 

I hugged him, “Thanks!” I had spent an hour on trying to figure it out, an hour of mom screaming at me, telling me the problem was easy but refusing to help me. 

He hugged me back, “No prob Mads. Think you need any help with the others.” 

I shook my head, “No, I think I’ve got it.”

He chuckled, “You’re pretty smart Mads.” 

“Think I’ll be as smart as you some day?” 

“You already are.” 

(I know,) Litniss said quietly (I know you care about him, despite your jealousy. Listen I’ll try my hardest to protect him, though there may not be much I can do. Once more, I will try, as long as you follow orders and… Try to talk with me okay? It makes things a lot easier for everyone involved if you don’t try to avoid me or ignore my existence.)

(Okay.) I thought.

She gave a small smile (Today’s been… Something. Let’s just sleep okay?)

(Goodnight.)

(Night.)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! It's been a while since I read the entire series in order so call me out for inaccuracies! I'm also not a nineties kid, so call me out there.


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